ENGLAND ON BRINK OF REGAINING SENIORS TITLE
England are within sight of regaining the Seniors Home Internationals
title after they beat Wales 8-1 while defending champions
Scotland suffered a 5-4 reversal to Ireland.
It means England, with two wins to their credit, could afford
a draw with Scotland today (Thursday) and still take the title
for the first time since 2004.
After Tuesday’s scare against the Irish, England were
in no mood to leave things to chance against Wales and they
set the ball rolling by taking the foursomes 2-1.
The tried and trusted pairing of David Lane and Roy Smethurst
were out first and cruised to a 5 and 4 win over John Whitcutt
and Michael Rooke.
Doug Arnold and Alan Squires were one under par as they defeated
Basil Griffiths and Brian Cramb 3 and 2 but the bottom match
proved a one-sided affair which went the way of the Welsh
with Phil Jones and Keith Stimpson beating Andrew Morrison
and Chris Reynolds 8 and 7. The Welsh were three under par
when the match finished on the 11th hole while England ran
up just four pars and were a disappointing eight over.
But there were no such setbacks in the singles as all six
went England’s way, Lane setting England on their way
with a 4 and 3 victory over Whitcutt in the top match.
Morrison shook off the morning failings by recording a similar
scoreline over Glyn Rees and when Arnold chalked up yet another
4 and 3 success, this time against Griffiths, England had
their victory.
Squires faced a tough task against Welsh seniors champion
Stimpson but a 3-3-3, birdie-eagle-birdie, run from the fourth
set the Lancastrian on the way to a 2 and 1 win, Squires being
three under par at the finish.
In the clash between Cheshire team-mates, Smethurst got the
better of Jones by two holes, while Reynolds was involved
in a close encounter with Rooke which went to the final green.
Reynolds led four times, but only by a single hole, and they
were level again through 16 holes. But Rooke fired his tee
shot at the short 17th into water to fall behind again and
when he had a chance to level again on the final green, he
three-putted to leave Reynolds the winner by the narrowest
of margins.
Scotland’s progress wasn’t helped when they trailed
2-1 after the morning foursomes and it might have been worse
as Ian Hutcheon and John Johnston trailed Seamus McParland
and Maurice Kelly for most of the match. But the Scottish
pair won the 13th to draw level and the 15th to edge ahead
for the first time, a lead they protected to run out one hole
winners.
But Stephen Ellis and John Fraser lost the top match 2 and
1 to Val Smyth and Nigel Dukes while Jim Watt and Gordon Brown
were beaten 5 and 4 by Barry Reddan and Hugh Smyth.
In the singles, McParland struck first by beating Ellis in
the top match but Hutcheon kept the Scots in touch with a
5 and 3 success over Hugh Smyth. Although Jim Watt, with three
successive birdies from the fourth, scored another point for
Scotland with a 2 and 1 win over Kelly, Val Smyth’s
3 and 2 victory over Brown restored Ireland’s advantage.
That still left the contest in the balance but Tony Goode,
finishing birdie-par-birdie, saw the Irish over the line with
a 4 and 3 win over Donald McCart while Fraser restored Scottish
pride by edging home by one hole against Reddan.
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